Dolce Vita

Our favorite Italian restaurant and wine bar! Top notch food, wine and service!

It's a solid restaurant. Good food, good service, great value. Plenty of things for kids to eat (without having a kids menu). We're lucky to live so close to a gem like this.

Dolce Vita is a little gem in Fairfax. The food is very fresh and tasty. The restaurant was super busy on a Sunday night and the staff did a great job trying to get everyone seated with a minimum wait.

First visit and was seated in wine bar area. Had a nice variety of good Italian wines in a tasting (flight). Fried ristoto and grilled artichoke hearts were very nice apps. Tried the homemade pasta with pomodoro sauce and sausage, meatballs and broccoli rabe as sides. Came out piping hot, cooked perfectly with great flavored sides. service was excellent. Will go again to try other menu items.

Valentine’s Day with a group of 8. We had a later reservation (9pm).
First the good: the service was very prompt and good. Each course was brought at the same time for everyone at the table. Each lady at the table was given a beautiful single red rose stem which was a very nice touch. Also, there were complimentary chocolate dipped strawberries which were good. I enjoyed my vegetable terrine as an appetizer. The bottle of red Valpolicella wine we got was good.
Now the bad: frankly the food (other than the aforementioned terrine) was barely mediocre, almost bad. Several people had the beef tenderloin which was overcooked and dry. I had the lamb and gnocchi - which might have been good at some point but were served barely warm (I’m trying not to say cold, but that’s what they were). Finally the dessert. I had the chocolate mousse trio. The flavors were good, but there, I barely had a teaspoon of each. Barely enough to taste. At $65 a pop for three mediocre courses, served cold - we won’t be back.
As a matter of fact, after we had dinner at Dolce Vita, we went and had a second dinner at a late night Korean BBQ joint...

So, nice staff, very friendly and prompt but they were let down by the kitchen as the food was a total miss.

We were here for the Valentines Day set menu. You could tell they were just cranking the food out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. They seemed to be in a rush to take our order, and the first course came out minutes after we ordered (by a different server). First, we were not offered bread. After seeing bread baskets on other tables, we asked for the bread and it was served. The first course was tasty (a brie salad and cauli bisque), but then noticed when the table next to us was served their salad, it had other things on it (and looked more delicious!). Second course was also good, the filet was cooked medium rare as requested, so I appreciated them getting that right. The lamb was also good. No complaints about dessert either. The food was all good, but the service was not. We had a bottle of wine, and after it was opened for us, we poured all of our glasses ourselves.

On this very busy night I felt the overall experience was very good. I have been there a number of times before. It is my go-to restaurant for elegant dining.

The fixed price menu was a little disappointing. The food was fine but not fantastic. Out wait staff were wonderful.

Dolce Vita remains a neighborhood gem, and while Valentine’s Day proves a test on any restaurant, the management and staff at Dolce Vita handled it with grace and welcoming service.

My 3 course prix-fixe choices were a beautiful Vegetable Terrine, perfectly grilled Loin of Lamb over tender and flavorful gnocchi, and a scrumptious Mixed-berry Napoleon. My date enjoyed the Walnut and Brie salad, the Lamb, and the Chocolate Mousse Trio.

A Red Rose was presented my date at the end of the meal, completing what was (as always) a delightful experience at one of my favorite restaurants in all of Fairfax County.

Food was well prepared and presented. Very tasty salads and charcuterie. Delicious pork chop and linguini portofino. Service was fine. Some language issues. Wine list was oddly incorrect which was suspicious. The physical plant was disappointing.

As always - great food, service, setting. We had a wonderful time.

Came in with my wife and daughter and we sat in a nice secluded booth directly across from the kitchen. Our server was outstanding. He had incredible knowledge of the wine. We will definitely be returning

The pasta was overcooked for both me and my husband. Food is usually very good there, but this was a surprise.

Always a good choice. Great food and service.

Very disappointing. This was one of my favorite restaurants, but I hadn't been in awhile. Major changes in staff, menu options and atmosphere all made this a very different experience. The food is n ok w mediocre, the staff unsmiling, with minimal service, and the wonderful Italian atmosphere gone. I wonder be recommending or returning. Very sad.

The service, ambience, and of course, the home made pasta and fair were quite the treat as we celebrated Grandma Jane's birthday! Thank you, Dolce Vita, for a wonderful evening!

Fantastic food! Busy and a bit noisy on a Saturday night - but good energy. Excellent wait staff! Complimentary valet parking was much appreciated on a rainy evening.

I said I would recommend Dolce Vita to a friend, but that may change the next time we go there. We've now eaten at Dolce Vita three times. The first two times were very good, but this last time was very mixed. The food was just ok overall. I'm inclined to treat this last occasion as just an off night (it was very busy, so maybe that was the problem), but we'll see.

Main entree was delicious. Appetizer was overpriced.

Birthday celebration

I had the the capellini with meatballs in pomodoro sauce and it was incredibly good, best meatballs I've eaten, ever, anywhere!

I've been coming to Dolce Vita since I can remember going to restaurants with my family. My boyfriend has been looking for an italian restaurant that reminds him of home in Bogota New Jersey. I suggested we go tot Dolce Vita and the rest is history. We've already celebrated a promotion and a birthday. We'll be back every month.

Cannenoli with Pink Sauce is amazing, Special Pork Chop is incredible, and the Chicken Parm to die for.

Food was good and prepared reasonably quickly. Our reservation was for 7 PM but We weren’t seated until about 7:20, so that was a bit frustrating,

Dolce Vita is a remarkable restaurant. I've been to Italian restaurants all over the country. The food at Dolce Vita is on par with any restaurant you can find in Little Italy in NY, Boston or Philly. Why this place doesn't get more recognition is beyond me. The most authentic South Italian food you can find anywhere in the U.S. With a streamlined menu, the restaurants serves fresh fare wit ha good variety.

Four of us had a great saturday night dinner. I had a reservation but all the tables were full when all our party arrived to we were asked if we'd like to eat in the wine bar. We had never been in there but it was a very nice spot and we enjoyed delicious meals along with some very nice wine.

Very nice place, food was ok, not great except for the ziti bolognas which was terrific. The rosemary potatoes were dry and not very flavorful. The wine pairing on the specials was outstanding.

Excellent service in the wine bar area. Good Italian comfort food. Nice HH specials on apps, beer, and wine.

I was expecting an open menu. Didn’t realize the menu was fixed for NYE. No complaints, but I prefer to dine rather than feel as if I’m at a wedding.

Our neighborhood go-to place. Food is always great, but our New Year's Eve meal with friends this year was exceptional!

Late posting for our new years eve experience. We do love this restaurant but the management and value of their pre fix meal for NYE was not a pleasant experience. We expect it to be busy and more costly. It was hardly busy at 6pm, but we had to sit on folding chairs at a patio table in the wine bar. It was a cold night and the managers would consistently enter the restaurant from the outside entrance to the wine bar (rather than the back way) which made the room temp uncomfortable. The food was hardly worth $85/person. It was tasty but much smaller portions and just not as well done. We will continue to come here for dinner as we typically love the service, ambiance and food... But will not repeat ANY holiday offering with them after this!

Food portions very small and overpriced. Service was very slow and not to standards. Overall ambiance is nice but you can do better - try ciao Osteria in Centreville.

After some confusion over our reservation as to which building our group would be seated in, the maitre d finally made the right decision. I advised the restaurant that when taking reservations they need to identify the seating location.

Enjoyed the entree (baked ziti), but the calamari was completely dry and without flavor - I mean literally no flavor, almost as if they forgot to add it. Very surprising from a local favorite and staple. The service was ok. They forgot much of my order, and had to be flagged down for additional drinks, but were otherwise not very noteworthy. It was a meh experience. I wouldn’t go back.

Wonderful meal! I ordered wild mushroom ravioli with parsnip cream sauce- outstanding!
They offer seasonal specials as well as a great selection of Italian dishes
Service is attentive . Only mishap was coffee was served lukewarm. Once mentioned, staff apologetic and fresh hot coffee was served

As always a special place to celebrate the special things. Food is great, good selection of wine.

We enjoy it each and every time

We sat in the wine bar - very nice - a little loud but great ambiance- food is very food and reasonably priced

What happened? This was our go to Italian place - great food and lovely service - now the food is worse than what we can do at home and the service was so bad we had to go and find our waiter. Awe - so disappointing.

This is our go-to spot for large group of friends; the food and service are on point as always.

Met old friends

I was truly impressed with the food, atmosphere and drinks at Dolce Vita. I had not heard of this place before and tried them on a whim only to be wow'd by the quality, presentation and taste of the meal. Will definitely go back soon.